Nokia reveals the Lumia 920, with Windows Phone 8 and PureView camera

Nokia has announced the Lumia 920, its first Windows Phone 8 smartphones, and the second set to be revealed following the Samsung Ativ S last week.

CEO Stephen Elop took to the stage at 10am, blissfully unaware that the livestream webcast had broken, and talked about Windows Phone. He said Nokia shared a vision with Microsoft, and that together they would create “a new smartphone experience,” and something “very unique in the market.”

With several Lumia devices already on sale, he introduced Jo Harlow to tell us all about the latest additions to the family — first, the Windows Phone 8 Lumia 920.

The Lumia 920 was described as the “most innovative smartphone in the world,” and boasts a camera with PureView technology, just like the Symbian-based PureView 808.

Except it’s not the same 41-megapixel lens found in that device — which explains why it’s not quite as bulky — but a Carl Zeiss-branded, 8.7-megapixel sensor instead. Nokia say it has a “floating lens,” which compensates for the tiny, imperceptible movements your hands make when holding the phone.

The Lumia 920‘s curved glass screen measures 4.5-inches, with a WXGA HD resolution, which will adjust its brightness depending on available light levels when you’re using it outside. Nokia’s Kevin Shields also demonstrated that the screen will recognize when you’re wearing gloves, and works as normal. Nokia call this Super Sensitive touch.

Snapdragon S4 and wireless charging

The processor inside the Lumia 920 is a dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 chip, which has 1GB of RAM to exploit, plus there is 32GB of onboard memory too.

Other features include a forward-facing 1.2-megapixel video-call lens, that also shoots 720p video, plus NFC, 1080p video capture from the PureView camera, plus variants with LTE and HSPA+ connectivity.

As rumored, Nokia has equipped the 920 with built-in wireless charging for the 2000mAh battery, which works on the Qi standard, and will not only offer a charging pad, but has signed various agreements with companies such as Coffee Bean and Virgin Atlantic, who will all offer wireless charging pads for their customers.

JBL will be producing a speaker box called the Power Up for the Nokia Lumia 920, which in addition to syncing with NFC, has a wireless power dock on the top too.

Design-wise, Nokia hasn’t rocked the boat, and the Lumia 920 looks similar to the 800 and 900 phones already on sale. From the pictures, the polycarbonate shell appears more glossy than the cool matte finish found on those devices.

The Lumia 920 was joined on stage by the mid-range Lumia 820, and will be made available in the retina-burning yellow we saw on stage, plus in red, grey, white and black. The release date is still a mystery, with Nokia only committing to it coming out “later in the year.”